dikman

Other than reducing foot pressure I'm not sure if there's a lot you can do, these are big machines designed to sew thick stuff, which means heavy springs and heavy pressure. Just out of curiosity, are those edges burnished? They look a little "furry" to me.

You don't say what it is you intend to make, but in my opinion a cylinder arm is probably the most versatile overall if you're only going to have one machine. You can either make or buy a table attachment to emulate a flat bed machine. I made a table for my post bed, and made an edge guide, but I wouldn't consider it ideal as a first/only machine, that's how I started out but soon learned its limitations!

You think so?

I stuck it here because it goes with a sewing machine. The tape holder that I finally ended up with. The clamp is part of a precise terminating jig for electronic connectors, which is no longer of any use. The mounting piece had to be machined (fortunately it is brass), drilled and tapped for the threaded rod and clips on the clamp so I can easily remove it when covering up the machine. The wood piece houses a bearing, secured by the aluminium plate on the bottom. The top piece is Xenolite, left over from our bathroom reno. It is a type of perspex, with a coloured coating on one side and is pretty hard material. Based on RockAussie's reply to an earlier post I made it 200 mm diameter, but the tape I received is 230 mm (!) so I had to make an additional piece to fit on top of the disk, this is a bit of thin plastic stiffening recovered from something I scrapped. Looks like it should work ok.

That came out ok. Glad you didn't stitch across the carving, that would have looked bad!

Running a stitch line through a carving would look very amateurish. Not a good look and would spoil the effect of the carving (which you've put a bit of work into). In my opinion the only option is to shift the stitch line to match the carving and hope for the best.

In answer to your last question, in my case no. While I am an inveterate collector of things (tools?) I see no value to me in such a device for my small number of sewing machines. If I run into a tension problem and I think it's the bobbin then I will tweak it by hand, realistically the amount of tweaking will be quite small anyway. I can, of course, see the value of such a gauge in the case Chris mentioned, it would be much easier to keep multiple machines all set the same. Now, if said gauge could also be used to measure trigger pull on revolvers then that would be useful to me.

Silverd, you are right in that measuring the tension and making a list of figures to match particular materials should give repeatable results - theoretically. Problem is that with leather there is often inconsistency in manufacture which can give variations in density. Singer's method of setting bobbin tension is to adjust it so that when you hold the thread the bobbin won't fall under its own weight but if you jerk the thread the bobbin should start dropping and then slowly stop. Very scientific, I think you will agree. There is no reason, of course, that you couldn't use a tension gauge if you want but I doubt if too many here would bother, most have just learned by "feel" how to set bobbin tension. To coin a phrase, it's hardly rocket science.

135x16 are leatherpoint, look at the shape of the tip and it will be diamond or wedge shaped, designed to cut through leather, 135x17 are pointed (for material and webbing). You can use x17 in leather but the stitches may look a bit different and you may need a larger size needle than you would think. Also, you may have problems with thick/hard leather.

Very nice indeed! Looks too good to wear and get scuffed. Something I've wondered, I understand that the airbrush will give a nice uniform colour, but does it give the dye penetration into the leather that other applications do?

Personally, I think that you're asking the poor little machine to do more than it was designed for. Realistically, you're getting into the realms of industrial machines.

I'm with Constabulary. A bit of trial and error, along with experience that comes with actually sewing different materials is probably the most practical aid. Sometimes it may be necessary to tweak things beyond the "recommended" settings.

Don't be afraid to ask, you'll get the right advice here. Threading isn't difficult but some of the youtube videos aren't right so if you're not sure ask here.

That's why my domestic machine is an old Singer 201, all metal and almost bulletproof!

Pretty drastic alteration, Brian. I'll keep it in mind. The reason I'm using threaded rod for the upright is that I'd already figured that I'd need to make it height-adjustable to get the best feeding of the tape. I'm on version 2, wasn't quite happy with version 1. Bert, could be pretty handy having them so close, you could save a bit on shipping.

That's who I bought it from! Ordered it yesterday and already shipped so prompt service. But what's the diam. of the roll? I've modified a table clamp with a vertical threaded rod and made a bearing mounted support but I need to know what size to cut the support disk. I should add that I don't have a cake tin lid but I do have a round biscuit tin lid that might do. I might use it just for Brian.

It's braided thread, that might be your problem. I bought a cone of braided thread that was ex-boot making factory stock. It's a beautiful thread, strong and very flexible, but I haven't been able to get it to sew successfully in any of my machines! It's very prone to snagging the braids.

This is a domestic sewing machine and they are known to have issues when sewing leather, particularly harder veg tanned. Are you talking about adding the lining to the outer leather?

I've ordered a 100m roll of tape, can someone tell me the approx. diameter of such a roll, please? I'm making a stand for it and need to know what size to make the base (and no, I'm not using a cake tin lid!).

And it doesn't look like it goes over #3? I can't be sure from the first photo.

Don't apologise, we all have to start somewhere, and the subject of industrial sewing machines can be quite complex (initially, at least). I'd still like to see a closeup of your threading around the tension assembly. The number of holes used on the post and the bar next to the tension unit can vary, depending on how much extra "pre"-tension might be needed. It's often a trial and error thing to suit the materials being sewn, but normally you would only use two holes on the post and one or two on the bar.

I hadn't paid any attention to the thread path until Pinto mentioned it. Can you post a closer photo of the tension assembly, I think it may be threaded wrong.

I use irfanview (free) to resize to 800x600, you don't want it too small 'cos we voyeurs like to see some detail. Your photos look fine to me.

Those cones of thread are not meant to be used like that, i.e.mounted on the machine. You will probably end up with severe twisting of the thread and jamming at some point. There is a reason that machines have those holders with the tall guide. If you want to keep it as original as possible (including the light) that's up to you but most of us that use them ditch the clutch motor for a servo and go with LED lights because it makes the machine more enjoyable to use.

Any of the common/generic servos will work. As for the handwheel, I've fitted larger pulleys to a couple of my machines and they work fine. It's easier than fitting a speed reducer and works the same.